Animania

**An educational board game**
__**Instructional Objective**__

Students will learn the classification of animals (mammal, bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, insect) and the corresponding lifecycles of these animals. This game will help students master the life cycle standards for second grade, which states:

Plants and animals have predictable life cycles. As a basis for understanding this concept: a._Students know that organisms reproduce offspring of their own kind and that the offspring resemble their parents and one another. b. _Students know the sequential stages of life cycles are different for different animals, such as butterflies, frogs, and mice.

Content Analysis is located on my content analysis page.

__**Learners & Context of Use**__

This game is designed for elementary age students ages 7 and above. Specifically designed for second graders due to the life science standard that is embedded into the boardgame.

The game will be used at school and can be taken home by students as well. The game will be taught whole group by the teacher and then be used as a small group learning center for 2-4 students at a time. The game will be used continuously throughout the life cycles 4 week unit and will be kept available for students to use as a learning center at the end of the life cycle unit.

The game will be taught after week 1 of the life cycles unit once major concepts have been taught and practiced.

__**Object of the Game**__

The object of this game is to be the first to correctly identify animals from each animal classification and habitat by answering questions about animals and their life cycles. The first to collect their animals and return them to the zoo has achieved Animania and wins the game.

Sample question cards:

__**Game Materials**__ This game includes a board with 7 different animal habitats. It includes animal achievement cards for each habitat. It includes four game pieces which are student explorers. It will also include one dice, one deck of question cards, 4 explorer pieces, and animania quest cards. There is an image of the board to the left, however I could not edit and make it a mirror image, so the game labels are backwards. I did not design a digital version. Instead I designed digital images and labels and attached those to an actual board game that I no longer use.


 * __Time Requi__****__red__**

The game should not take long to set up. The game should take no longer than 30 minutes to play. It can be left out and continued at a later time if needed.


 * __The Rules__**

Players move one at a time around the board. They must land on the animal square to enter the animal habitat and answer one question about that animal. They must also describe that animal's life cycle.

If they get the question correct and the animal's life cycle is described correctly, they collect an animal achievement card and continue going to each animal habitat until all 6 animals have been collected.

Once a player has collected 6 cards they proceed to the zoo to answer their final question and win the game.

__**Design Process**__

The first thought on this game was one giant animal habitat with students answering questions about each. After diving in further and completing the content analysis I re-designed the game to 6 different habitats and 2 questions for each animal as that pertains to the standards and what students in second grade need to have knowledge of.

After the first play test of my game I had to go further and divide the cards into each habitat. I originally only had one pile of question cards for all animal habitats. I also realized that I will need to make it easier to land on the animal habitat. My own kids had to pass each one several times in order to get the exact roll to land on the piece.

Further work to be accomplished - Game board and cards will need to be fine tuned. The game will need to be play tested on the actual audience of game players which will be my second grade class. This will occur in the spring when animal life cycles unit is introduced.

Overall I enjoyed the design process and the play testing was enjoyable not just for me but for my kids at home as well.

I can not wait to play test the game with my second graders. I am sure the game will be modified and updated even more once I present it to them.